Perseverance
by Warrior of Horus
Summary: Fem!America and Englandb as brother and sister, dealing with bullying, an alocoholic father, tempermental mother, and school drama with their friends Canada and Fem! Japan, also in this is Italy and Hungary as teachers and Bad Touch Trio and Fem!Russia as their bullies. May be some romance in future chapters. The quote in the story is from the book Dawn by Elie Wiesel.
1. The Unfortunate Situation

They lived in shame, embarrassed by their father, a drunk, and their temperamental mother. Arthur was the older of the two, and he cared deeply for his younger sister, Amelia or Emily. Their lives were terrible; their parent's marriage had been deteriorating since both were young. Their nightly lullabies were the shouts of their parents rage reserved for each other.

Their lives weren't always miserable, when they were young their family was happy, full of joy, Arthur and Amelia would walk to the bus stop, go to school, and come back when their lessons had been finished and finish their work, watch the television and then sit down to eat at the table with their mom and dad. Happy with nothing was wrong, that's what their early childhoods had been like, but then it changed.

The siblings' father's work had laid him off, unable to keep the same amount of employees any more, and their uncle- their dad's brother had been diagnosed with lung cancer. This started their turmoil, unable to handle his grief; their dad fell to temptation and was constantly trying to lose himself in a bottle of liquor. He never hit them or anything, but he would constantly fight with their mother.

She wanted it all to stop; their mom had grown tired of her husband's actions and confronted him about it several times. She talked about separating with him when the kids were in supposed to be in bed. Unbeknownst to them an eight-year-old and a six-year-old heard. Amelia's lips quivered trying to be strong and not cry; she wanted to run away from it all, Arthur held his sister tight and brought her to her room. When they heard shouting, Emily started to sob. Arthur felt torn up inside, he wanted to disappear. The next day their father apologized and promised their mother that he wouldn't do it again.

That was seven years ago, their father had sobered up and stopped, but whenever life got more difficult he listened to his demons and picked up the bottle. Emily and Arthur never really had friends over- they didn't want anyone to find out. To each of them school was a blessing a part of the day where they could try and escape-if only for a little while. Emily's hero act was true she wanted to save everyone because no one could really save her, but some people found her quite annoying for the same reason, she was also pretty and strong, and other girls were jealous of this, even though she was skinny they made fun of her weight and said cruel things about her appearance. She acted like the words didn't hurt or even like she didn't hear them but in secret a piece of her spirit broke each time she heard them. Arthur was polite and used his manners, and was very studious. But he was tormented by Francis and his two friends Gilbert and Antonio. Arthur would just ignore what they said and move on.

At school Emily hung out with Sakura and Matthew, though sometimes she felt distant from her close friends, like a piece that doesn't belong, lonely and sad like the full moon on a star-less night. Sakura and Matthew didn't know about what her and her brother go through at home, they only knew about what other kids say to her. They would defend her if they could they were just too soft spoken to say anything, besides Amelia didn't seem too bothered by the comments. They didn't know she went home and tried to cry, or that she couldn't cry anymore because she had used all the tears she could find in herself.

Arthur was also friends with Sakura, but besides her and his sister he really didn't have any friends, the teachers though were close to him somewhat he would engage them in conversation and talk for a while-but that was it. He was a loner, which was why Francis and his friends had targeted him. They didn't know anything about his home life either.

They each had their own way to deal with their lives too, Arthur wrote his feelings in his notebook during class, which Francis would come up and say "Aw- the little girl is writing in her diary, non?" Gilbert chimed in "Dude what a wuss! No wonder you and your sister have no friends!" other classmates heard and snickered. They had taken it too far for him, Arthur could stand the ridicule but now they were talking about his little sister. "Shut up you bloody little prick!" the words had escaped his mouth and the teacher heard and she turned around and said "Arthur would you please stay after class." He nodded there was no escaping this one. When the bell rang he stayed after, "You, would like to speak Ms. Herdervary?" "Yes, what was that outburst about?" "Uh-well Francis and Gilbert were talking and being obnoxious during your lesson while I was trying to pay attention." She nodded and then gave him a look and said "What were they saying?" "Oh- uh they said something about my sister, which I did not believe was appropriate." Ms. Herdervary nodded knowing that Arthur was protective of his little sister, and that Francis, Gilbert, and Antonio were notorious for being obscene. "Okay, you may go now." With that Arthur left.

Amelia let her feelings out in her art class. One of her works was a mirror held by people in front of a girl and her reflection showed someone who was overweight, pale, ugly, the girl herself was normal sized and normal looking, even though the girl had straight black hair and hazel eyes it was herself it was Emily's daily struggle of everything other kids commented about her. Her teacher leaned over her shoulder to look his curiosity peaked. "Ve, Emily, what is this picture about?" Emily thought quickly, "Well, Mr. Vargas it's about girls listening to what the world says about theirselves and ignoring who they really are." He nodded, accepting her answer and moved on. Sakura looked over to see her drawing too, and she was amazed at the detail of the picture, for some reason the girl reminded her of Emily, but she just passed it off as Emily being the person who drew it.

Today was a Thursday and for who knows why, lunch was always more hectic on that day, so every week on that day Arthur and his sister would go to the school's library to talk and spend time together. Arthur was contemplating the feelings that had been brought up by Francis and Gilbert "Hey, Amelia, "Emily turned to look at him so he continued, "Do you ever lonely or like your friends are only still friends with you out of not wanting to hurt your feelings?" "Yeah sometimes I wonder why Sakura and Matthew hang around us, when everyone hates us … Do you hate them back?" Arthur thought for a bit before he said "Once I read a book and this one quote explained the feeling I understand more now, it goes 'A man hates his enemy because he hates his own hate. He says to himself: This fellow, my enemy has made me capable of hate. I hate him not because he's my enemy, not because he hates me, but because he arouses me to hate.' I don't really hate the person I just hate how they make me feel." Emily responded by nodding, she sort of understood what her brother meant, but it was hard to think the deep feelings inside were pointed toward her own feelings not an actual person. Out of the blue Emily said "Arthur, if I didn't have you and my friends, I think I would have been gone by now, you guys are the only ones who can really make me feel better." Then Emily said her goodbyes and went to go see Sakura and Matthew.

In the halls she ran into Anya, the person who caused the load of her hardships at school. "Privet, Emily," she said with a smirk. "Hey, Anya, see you 'round," Anya continued, "So, I was talking to Matthew and Sakura, you want to know what they said, Da?" Amelia really didn't feel like this right now.


	2. Unexpected Turnouts

**Sorry I haven't Updated sooner I pretty much had to say goodbye to summer because of over summer break work. So here's the second chapter I'll try to update sooner. Please review and that stuff… All criticism and suggestions welcomed. Thanks to anyone who actually read this author's note now you can read the story.**

"Uh, not rea-" Anya cut her off and continued "So I was asking them why they were friends with you and they said that they didn't know why and wondered what life would be like without you." She gave an icy smirk that made Emily flinch just a hair. "Such wonderful friends, Da? I wonder why you haven't noticed what a pain in an ass to everyone you are, especially to your friends." "Okay, well thanks for the info." Amelia gave her brightest smile, but her eyes betrayed her with the beaten look they shone.

She walked to see Sakura and Matthew who were talking when she rounded the corner. "What do you think Anya was trying to imply?" Sakura pondered out loud. "I don't know, but I feel like she was threatening us in some way…" "Yes, I would have to agree with what Anya said; it can be a pain to be friends with Amelia sometimes." "Oh God yes, and she can be so annoying and with all those crazy stupid ideas." "And her very excitable personality or her fear of horror movies and she makes us watch them." They laughed at the thoughts brought up by their conversation, of course all these things were true but Emily had more good points than that. Amelia felt the pricking of a million knives into her heart, was this all she was to everyone, a pain, a stupid waste of breath? What else did Sakura and Matthew say when they thought she wasn't there? Everything was against her; her mother who ignored her, her drunk of a father, and now even her friends. She couldn't take it.

Amelia walked away dejected and with a burning torrent of emotions inside her. She stood tall and strong but she felt her stomach twist in knots, and also she felt like breaking down. Her heart burned with a thousand desert suns, not in the heat of passion, but in pain. She imagined her soul fading, her very life essence draining. The very glue that was holding her life together had dissolved and let the pieces shatter.

Arthur walked to his locker, where he noticed the look was on the floor and the door slightly ajar. He rushed to it and looked inside, and everything was a mess, and his notebook missing. He was going to lose it, he had every detail of his day in there, his private thoughts and now someone had them. He confided in the pages his secrets and now they were gone from him. It was also a part of him and now someone has it, this was a disaster. What if those bastards got it? He was so screwed then.

Arthur figured he must have looked in distress because he felt that way and Ms. Herdervary seemed to notice. "Is everything okay, Arthur?" He looked at his teacher and sighed. "Someone broke into my locker and stole my note book," she gave a sympathetic look to her pupil. As she was about to ask him more about his notebook the P.A. speakers came on.

"A page from the works of Arthur Kirkland," you could hear the smirk in his voice and giggling in the background. The scattered clusters of people all looked to him with expectant faces. He felt the heat rise in his face. Ms. Herdervary, seeing the look of sheer horror on Arthur's face, had rushed to the student body office to try to stop it. Arthur had turned around back to his hiding spot in the library. The speaker had continued "I really hate life sometimes, all those people against you, what is even worse is watching it happen with Amelia, she'd never cry in front of someone, she wants to be strong, but sometimes after school I pass her room and hear her crying, she looks so beaten and hurt. I feel like breaking down almost all the time, the bastards never leave us alone, our at home life is already terrible, school is our only escape. I feel a heavy burning in my heart, no words ever go unnoticed, I always hear them, and they'll always tear a small part of me. I hate the-" the over dramatic voices of Gilbert and Francis stopped along with the laughter of several others stopped and what was heard was the irate voices of several members of the staff. "Anya, Francis, Gilbert, Antonio, Nikolai, My Office now!" After that, nothing else was heard.  
Amelia had heard the announcement, she knew where to find Arthur and also get away from Sakura and Matthew. She and her brother had been humiliated enough today, she can only stand it with Arthur as her strength, by her side.

When she had gotten to the library she had found Arthur distraught, with his head in his hands. "Arthur, are you okay?" Arthur looked up at his younger sister and his glossy emerald eyes said to her every emotion he was feeling. Arthur's hot tears flowed down his cheeks leaving streaks where there path had gone. "No!" the pain was eminent in his voice, it was the tone of voice that would make you just go and hug the person and want to promise them the world. Amelia tried that, but she knew she couldn't promise him the world, both knew too well how terrible and cold the world was, they had experienced it when they were young and every day since then because of bullying and a cracked home life. "Sorry, it was a stupid question to ask." She sat down next to him and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"One day will be on top of the world and living in the fairytales like we the ones we read together." Arthur said in a bitter sarcastic tone, mocking the quote he had told Emily when they were younger, even then he knew this wouldn't happen, but he always did what he had to do to make his sister smile. Emily sighed "I wish." They sat there reflecting on memories and trying to, even just for a while, escape reality.

There moment was interrupted by Ms. Herdervary, who had been looking for the two siblings. "Ah, there you are, I've been looking for you two, are you guys okay?" Amelia nodded and Arthur let out a small 'yes', they were both lying, they wouldn't divulge everything to someone who didn't carry the same pain and burden they did because they would only be sympathetic, and they didn't need sympathy. Ms. Herdervary didn't believe them but went along with it. "Believe it or not teachers aren't just here to give you homework, they here to help and protect students too. You can trust me, and talk to me.


End file.
